Brief Encounter
by blainedarling
Summary: Blaine takes a school trip to Paris where he meets a beautiful stranger, by the name of Sebastian.
1. I Want You

**A/N:** This part set at the end of season 1, respectively.

* * *

Blaine loved being a tourist. He loved exploring new places, the balls of his feet aching after walking for hours on end, the cry and swirl of a new language dancing around him. He hadn't yet decided if being a tourist surrounded by a large group of his friends, on a school vacation to mark the end of the year, was utterly wonderful or the most horrific thing he'd ever experienced. Maybe both.

"Blaine, Blaine, get a photo so it looks like I'm holding the Eiffel Tower!" Jeff cried, limbs flailing as he ran to crouch in front of the view, glancing over his shoulder multiple times as he tried to get into place. "Does that work?"

"Why are you pretending to be the hunchback? Notre Dam is later." Nick called as he caught up to them, the group spreading out across the area to look over at the looming landmark.  
"I'm not," Jeff huffed, deflating slightly. "I'm holding the Eiffel Tower."  
Nick shrugged. "Yeah, whatever you say, hunchback."  
Jeff growled, leaping towards him to grab his neck in a tight headlock. It was nothing but playful, the same kind of banter that the boys were used to seeing from Nick and Jeff, so no one made to stop them.

"Blaine," Nick panted, from where he was still caught tightly in Jeff's grip. "Didn't he totally look like a hunchback?"  
When he didn't respond, the quarrelling duo paused, staring at their friend curiously. Blaine stood completely still, mouth hanging open in a small 'o' shape, camera limp in his hands. But he wasn't even looking at the view, his gaze fixed somewhere to the left of him.

"What's he staring at?" Jeff whispered, addressing the group of Warblers who had gathered to observe their friend.  
After a moment, Wes hummed in understanding, gesturing subtly in the direction of the low wall on which a group of boys were sat. Teenage Parisian boys, he assumed from a quick glance.  
"Give him five minutes, then we'll pull him away from his fantasies," Wes instructed firmly.

Blaine was pretty sure he'd never seen anyone quite so beautiful. He was tall, impossibly so, long legs stretched out in front of him, a plain white button up shirt hanging loosely over his torso. He could just make out patterns of freckles over his forearms, where his shirt sleeves were rolled up; the same patterns detailed out on his neck. His hair was artfully pushed back, sunglasses perched on his nose. They were dark enough that Blaine couldn't quite make out his eyes, but it seemed as if he were staring right back at him. Or maybe that was just wishful thinking.

The statue of a boy finally moved, shifting to accept the hand rolled cigarette offered to him by one of his friends. He took a long drag, the tilt of his head never shifting from Blaine's direction, before blowing out a hazy cloud of smoke that shimmered around his head before melting away.

"Oh," Blaine murmured to himself. As if all of that weren't good enough, he couldn't help but wonder of his accent. Gorgeous boys speaking French? That was simply irresistible.  
"Blaine, time to go!" Thad yelled, running up and clapping him on the shoulder brightly.  
"But.." Blaine protested feebly, finally tearing his eyes away to look at his friend helplessly.  
"Come on, we need a food stop before Jeff starts getting cranky," Thad smiled apologetically.

With a reluctant sigh, Blaine made to return to his friends, allowing himself one last look over his shoulder. The stranger, and his friends, were gone.

* * *

"Blaine, it's been nearly twenty four hours," Wes sighed, settling down next to him as they sat on the edge of the Seine, basking in the heat.  
"Huh?" Blaine frowned, pulled from his ongoing debate with himself over what the boy's name might be.  
"The boy from yesterday, that you've been day dreaming about," Wes replied bluntly. "You're never going to see him again, so it would be best just to put it from your mind, and enjoy the rest of your trip, hm?"

Even though Blaine knew as well as Wes that it was nothing but a fever dream, the comment still stung a little. The perfect little fantasy he'd been building in his head cracked and crumbled before him, the stranger floating further and further from his reach.

"Right," Blaine mumbled, flushing right up to the tips of his ears. "Sorry."  
Wes wrapped an arm around his shoulders, giving him a reassuring squeeze. "Hey, don't be sorry. We just want you to have a good time, and not start getting lost in your thoughts again."  
It was true that Blaine had a tendency as much to over think as to hide within his imagination, and cut off from the outside world around him. Since he'd moved to Dalton, following problems at his old school, he'd found that he did it less and less. But whenever he did, Wes, ever observant, was always the first to notice.

"I'm going to get an ice cream," Blaine changed the topic with a wide, albeit somewhat forced, smile. "Do you want one?"  
Wes laughed fondly, before nodding. "Sure. Surprise me."  
Blaine nodded, hopping up and taking off towards the stand a few feet away.

"I was hoping I might see you again."  
A smooth, deep voice came from behind Blaine as he stood in the line for the stand, making the hairs on the back of his neck stand up on end. He whirled around, eyes widening as he took in the boy from the day before. He was dressed much the same, as simple as before, the vibrant green of his eyes not obscured with sunglasses as they had been the previous day.

"You're American," Blaine mumbled, frowning a little. That would teach him that the real thing never lived up to fantasy.  
The boy raised an eyebrow, clearly amused. "Half - I take it the accent was not what you were expecting?" He ducked down, letting his breath ghost over Blaine's ear lightly. "I'd be more than happy to whisper dirty French things into your ear when I'm fucking you later, if that's what you're in to."

Blaine blushed brightly, taking a purposeful step away from him, his heart hammering wildly. "I'm here with my school," he blurted out, inwardly groaning the minute he'd said it. _I'm here with my school. And the award for biggest dork goes to.._

"That's nice?" the boy replied, leaning forward to order his own ice cream straight after Blaine had done his. "I'm Sebastian. Sebastian Smythe."  
Blaine gawked, barely managing to contain a whimper. Sebastian was so, so much better than the options he'd been toying with. Francesco? Michel? _Sebastian._  
"Blaine Anderson," he replied quietly, ducking his gaze to try and stop from staring so openly.

"Well, Blaine Anderson," Sebastian grinned, grabbing his ice cream and sinfully swirling his tongue over the top, before smacking his lips together. "If you feel like sneaking out later, then give me a call."  
With that, he gracefully dropped Blaine's phone onto the counter, before turning on his heel and walking off. Blaine spluttered, glancing at the phone and noting that, yes, Sebastian had just pick pocketed him for the sake of giving him his number. Unbelievable.

* * *

Unbelievable Sebastian Smythe may have been, and yet Blaine still found himself on the boy's doorstep later that night, wiping his sweaty palms against his jeans as he waited to be let in.  
"I knew you'd come," Sebastian smirked, stepping back and ushering him in.  
"I'm not having sex with you," Blaine clarified, looking sternly at Sebastian.

Sebastian sighed, before shrugging. "That is a shame. Your ass is just begging to be filled, if you ask me. But I'm not going to make you do anything you don't want to."  
Blaine blinked in surprise, having half expected Sebastian to put up more of an argument. "Thank you."  
"You'll stay though, right?" Sebastian asked quietly. For the first time since Blaine had met him, he looked unsure - nervous, even. "Have some wine and look at the view? If you want."

Blaine nodded, smiling shyly. "That sounds nice. I've never, uh, I've never tried wine, though. My brother gave me some beer once, but I didn't really like it."  
Sebastian chuckled softly. "This is much better, I promise." He offered out his hand to Blaine, nodding towards a door tucked in the corner of the room. "We should go to the roof, to get the best view."

The shorter boy hesitated, glancing at him uncertainly.  
"I won't bite, I promise. Unless you want-"  
"Oh my god, shut up," Blaine cut him off, blushing as he grabbed Sebastian's hand.  
Sebastian laughed, the sound warm and almost musical, lacing his fingers with Blaine's, his thumb lightly caressing the other boy's. It was almost intimate, in a way Blaine couldn't explain. Like just the weight of his palm pressed against Sebastian's could speak a thousand words or more.

* * *

Sebastian had been right about the view; such a panorama over the city that it took Blaine's breath away. Blaine's first taste of wine had been pleasantly unexpected: it was sweet, but with a light tang, enough to make his tongue tingle a little.

Although it was May, and the days were warm, the evening drew in a little chillier, a cool breeze whipping across the rooftop. The wine had warmed him somewhat, but Blaine couldn't help the shiver that rippled down his spine.

"Are you cold?" Sebastian asked in concern, shifting next to him where they sat on a pile of cushions they had brought up from the apartment.  
"A little, but it's fine," Blaine assured him, breath hitching as Sebastian swiftly moved to sit behind him, wrapping his long limbs around the shorter boy and drawing him back against his chest.  
He then grabbed a blanket from where it lay to one side, draping it over the two of them.

"Better?" he murmured, tucking his cheek against the side of Blaine's head.  
"Uh-huh." Blaine swallowed dryly, taking a few deep breaths before allowing himself to settle into Sebastian's embrace.  
There was a pause, just the sounds of the city below them, the soft puff of their breath and the drumming of their heartbeats.

"Hey," Sebastian whispered, head tilted to look at Blaine. "You've got an eyelash." He gently picked it up off Blaine's skin with the pad of his index finger, holding it out in front of his lips. "Make a wish."  
Blaine hummed in thought for a moment, before carefully blowing the lash away, watching it float into the air.

"What did you wish for?"  
Blaine tutted under his breath, grinning at him. "If I tell you, then it won't come true."  
Sebastian shrugged. "I'm a strong believer in making our own luck, and it's the same for wishes. You have to make your wish come true; no one's going to just give it to you."

Without another word, Blaine surged forward, grabbing onto Sebastian's neck as he pressed his lips firmly to the taller boy's. Sebastian made a noise of surprise before leaning into it, parting Blaine's lips enough that he could suck on the lower one gently.

Sebastian tasted sweet like the wine they'd been drinking, but with something deeper underneath of it. A faint trace of the cigarettes he smoked, maybe, and Blaine couldn't help but chase after it with his tongue, drawing it in. Combined with the musky scent of Sebastian's cologne that was enveloping him, Blaine felt rather lightheaded from it all.

"See? I told you," Sebastian murmured breathlessly when they broke apart, eyes fluttering open to catch the blush on Blaine's cheeks before it faded.  
"Well, technically, I wished that you'd kiss me, and I kissed you, so.."

Sebastian chuckled, before ducking down to kiss him again, finding himself already addicted to the taste and warmth of Blaine's lips. "Satisfied?" he whispered, smiling against his lips.  
"Mm," Blaine hummed noncommittally, pressing in to kiss him once again.

* * *

Blaine awoke first, grimacing at the stale taste in his mouth as he raised his head from where it lay on Sebastian's chest. Sebastian, who was still asleep, mouth open, eyelashes fluttering against his cheek. As much as he wanted to just lay there and enjoy the view, Blaine couldn't ignore the persistent buzzing of his phone in his pocket, and he dug it out just as it popped up with 'one new voicemail' along with an icon of Wes' face.

_Blaine Devon Anderson, get back to this hotel right now, young man. There is only so much longer I can cover for you - and might I remind you that your life is not The Lizzie McGuire Movie, you can not just run off with a foreign boy!_

Blaine sighed, tapping off a quick text to let him know he'd be there soon, before nudging Sebastian gently.  
"Bastian. Bas. Sebastian, wake up."  
"No," Sebastian grumbled, wrapping his arms tightly around his smaller frame.  
"I have to get back."

Sebastian cracked an eye open, frowning at him. "When do you leave Paris?"  
"Tonight," Blaine whispered, smiling at him sadly.  
He received no reply at first, Sebastian simply turning onto his side. He didn't like goodbyes, so he didn't do them. He wouldn't - not even for Blaine. "You can see yourself out."

Blaine nodded, blinking rapidly to stop himself from crying. No _I'll give you my email and we can stay in touch. _No _look me up if you're ever in Paris again. _Just silence.  
"Goodbye, Sebastian," he whispered, pressing a kiss to his temple before heading for the staircase.


	2. I Need You

**A/N:** This part set at the start of season 3.

* * *

Blaine Anderson was never late. Except that it was the first day of the new school year and he was, once again, racing to slip into class in time. It was something that had become increasingly frequent at the end of the last year, as he hurried to meet his boyfriend for coffee before class, almost always overestimating just how far he could push the speed limit on his way back to Dalton from Lima. But it was worth it. Right?

_"Pardon, Madame," _Blaine mumbled as he skidded in through the door just as the second bell rang out, hastily darting for one of the few remaining available chairs.  
"Let's not start the new year the same way we ended the last, Mr Anderson," she sighed, turning back to the stack of papers in her hand.  
"Dude, if you're going to have French first period every day like last semester, you're going to need to start leaving Kurt earlier," Nick hissed from his side, shaking his head as he passed over the syllabus that had already been handed out.  
"I know, I know," Blaine grumbled, hastily reaching for his phone that was buzzing in his pocket, to switch it to silent before she could call him out for anything else.

_Miss you already! Why didn't you transfer again? :( xoxox_

Blaine sighed under his breath - he did not have the energy to play 'how many times can Kurt guilt trip him over staying at Dalton before lunchtime' again. He tapped out a quick series of cutesy emoticons that he hoped would suffice, before stuffing his phone away, and tuning back into what the teacher was saying.

"-he already speaks fluent French so you could all do with learning a lot from him," she said pointedly, gesturing to the new kid who was hovering at the front of the classroom.  
Except new he may be, but that didn't mean Blaine didn't know exactly who he was. His hair was a little shorter, making him look younger, and dressed in his uniform, he looked a far cry from the boy Blaine had spent the night with on the rooftop. But there was no mistaking that it was Sebastian - Sebastian whose gaze was meeting Blaine's right back.  
"Blaine, is-" Jeff started in a whisper from behind him, cut off within just two words.  
"Yes. It is," Blaine murmured, hands gripping onto the desk in front of him tightly.

Blaine tried to forget about Sebastian, he really did. He'd returned to the boys at the hotel that morning with no evidence of the previous night save for the slightly chapped nature of his lips and the faint trace of oil on his hands from the railing of the staircase that had led to the rooftop.

He'd spent the entire summer recounting every last detail of the short time they'd spent together. How many freckles he'd counted over Sebastian's face and neck. How the taste of his lips changed as the night went on. How rough the palms of his hands had been in his own. He'd Googled 'Sebastian, Paris' half a dozen times until his friends gently pointed out that it would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

And then Kurt had appeared, and while it hadn't quite filled the gap that Sebastian had left, it had been enough of a distraction for Blaine to put it to one side and move on. Blaine admitted to his friends over pizza and a stack of movies one night, that it just didn't feel as strong with Kurt in the two months they'd been together, as it had with Sebastian in one night. Wes put that down to it having been new, exciting, and, to some extent, forbidden. Blaine wasn't so sure. Nick shrugged it off as being that one never forgets their first kiss - which Thad, in turn, protested against, claiming his first own kiss was the least memorable moment of his entire life. After getting through one too many chick flicks, Jeff quietly assured him that if it was meant to be, they'd find one another again. Blaine had smiled politely, put that idea down to too much chocolate, and tried to cast it from his mind.

But Sebastian was there, really there in front of him. Without a word of warning - of course, because he'd have had no way to contact him just as Blaine had had no way to contact Sebastian. Sebastian might have recognised him, that much seemed clear, but Blaine couldn't help but resign himself to the fact that the other boy probably didn't dwell as much on their evening as he was prone to doing.

* * *

A warm hand grabbed Blaine's arm firmly as he turned out of the door of the classroom. He had a study period next, but given that it was only the first day back, he'd been planning on using it to hole up in his room and try and process the fact that _Sebastian Smythe was now a student at his school.  
_"Blaine," Sebastian murmured, looking at him as if he might just disappear again any moment.

He wanted to wrench free and run far from his grasp. He wanted to pretend that he wasn't Blaine at all, and that he must have made a mistake. He wanted to do anything that meant not dealing with the fact that the boy who had claimed his first kiss and an unfortunately large chunk of his heart was standing in front of him.

"You have every right to not to want to talk to me," Sebastian said quietly, gently tugging him over to the side of the corridor away from the crush of students fighting to get through. "But I am sorry for how I acted that morning."  
"It was a long time ago. It doesn't matter anymore," Blaine replied unconvincingly, not quite meeting his gaze.  
Sebastian smiled sadly, letting his hand fall back to his side. "It still matters to me."

Blaine looked up, breath hitching as the full weight of Sebastian hit him. The freckles, the eyes, the cologne. It was all still the same and Blaine would be lying to himself if he said it didn't affect him as it had the day they'd met. "I'm kind of having trouble processing that you're here," Blaine admitted finally, letting out an embarrassed chuckle.  
Sebastian nodded. "It's kind of a long story - but it's a story that also explains why I did what I did. And I want to tell you. But not yet."

The shorter boy frowned, opening his mouth and closing it again. "That's..cryptic."  
Sebastian laughed warmly, the corners of his eyes crinkling up just so. "I promise I didn't kill anyone, or anything like that. I just need time, okay? I've never really spoken about it with anyone. I don't trust people, in general. But, for some unexplainable reason, I know I can trust you. Does that make any sense?"

Blaine shook his head firmly, but his eyes were sparkling in amusement. "Not even slightly."  
"Oh well," Sebastian sighed, cocking his head with a grin. "I'll see you around, Blaine Anderson."  
Blaine murmured a response, staring after Sebastian for a long time after he rounded the corner.

_If it's meant to be, you'll find one another again._

* * *

Blaine had too much coffee with Thad after class. He was hallucinating. Kurt was not running down the corridor towards him.  
"What are you doing here?" Blaine blurted out, too confused to consider tact in that moment. He was sure he wasn't supposed to be seeing him again until the following morning. His thoughts had perhaps been otherwise occupied that day, but he surely couldn't have gotten that wrong.

Kurt just laughed, patting his cheek fondly. "You weren't returning my texts and Glee club isn't starting up again until tomorrow, so I thought I'd come and surprise you!"  
Blaine frowned, digging out his phone to see a total of twelve unread messages from his boyfriend. So maybe he'd been a little more out of it than he'd realised. "Sorry, I- yeah."  
"Are you okay? You seem distracted."

Blaine shook his head, plastering a bright smile onto his face. "Just tired. They're already piling on the assignments, and it's only the first day back," he lied, slipping his arm through Kurt's as he led them towards the common room where the Warblers rehearsed.  
"Yet another reason why you should have transferred," Kurt replied in a sing-sing voice, oblivious to where Blaine was grinding his teeth in irritation.

"Kurt," Wes said coolly when they walked in. As per tradition, the graduated Warblers came back for the first rehearsal of the next year to look over the new recruits before they left for bigger and better things. "You're a member of the competing team. You can't just drop in."  
Kurt scoffed, settling down on the arm of one of the large couches.  
"Well, we're not actually rehearsing yet today, right?" Blaine chipped in desperately, in no mood to deal with a full on argument over something like that. "It's just this once."  
"Be sure that it is," Wes commanded firmly, looking between the two boys.

"Now, as I was saying," another pointed look in Blaine's direction. "We will be taking in two juniors who have been on the waiting list since freshman year, and a transfer student, whom I believe quite a few of us already know."  
A titter went through Blaine's friends, Sebastian sending a salacious wink in his direction, from the other side of the room.

"Who is that?" Kurt whispered in confusion, turning to Blaine, who ignored him in favour of waiting for Sebastian to do his introduction to the group.  
"Sebastian Smythe, although I'm sure you all just know me as Blaine's Parisian lover," he grinned, waiting for the chuckles to die down before continuing. "Junior, transferred due to personal reasons, and I'd appreciate if you can all respect that."  
Wes cast a small smile in Blaine's direction before responding. "Of course. You won't be the first."

The group dissolved for the day pretty quickly after that, having collected the music they would need for the following day.  
"I hope my introduction didn't embarrass you in front of your _friend_," Sebastian grinned, bumping Blaine's shoulder playfully as he joined him.  
Kurt had been quiet since what had been said, simply assessing Sebastian critically. He piped up then, standing up and slipping between Blaine and Sebastian.

"Boyfriend, actually. Kurt Hummel," he smiled sweetly, offering out his hand.  
Sebastian ignored the gesture, turning to Blaine with one eyebrow raised. "You didn't tell me you have a boyfriend."  
"Never came up," Blaine mumbled, flushing slightly.  
Sebastian hummed, shifting his gaze back to the the other boy. "Pleasure. Like I said, I'm Sebastian. And I taught him everything he knows." He gestured to Blaine with a wide smirk, before following the trail of departing boys.

Blaine gaped, internally groaning as he took in Kurt's livid expression. "He's joking?" he offered helplessly.  
Kurt just narrowed his eyes, folding his arms across his chest. "You have a lot of explaining to do."

* * *

In the end, Blaine kept his explanation to the bare minimum. He detailed how they'd met, brushing over the evening they'd spent together before hastily moving onto the "this is the first time I've seen him in over a year!" bit. But it didn't matter what Blaine said, because Kurt was clearly threatened by the other boy's presence - especially given that it was inevitable that his boyfriend would see more of Sebastian than he would of him.

It was a month or so before the stories started filtering into the walls of Dalton, escalating beyond belief in what seemed just a matter of minutes. A sophomore had overheard the dean talking through Sebastian's file with the guidance counsellor, and from there it had spread like wildfire.

But like always, with these things, the actual truth had become so far hidden under assumption and dramatisation, that it was really nothing but a story. Nevertheless, teenage boys were as inclined to believe as they were to gossip, and more and more of the casual companions Sebastian had made in his first weeks faded from view.

The Warblers held on longer, following a strong lecture from Blaine on how dishonourable it was to believe such falsities. But even they, too, turned their backs on Sebastian eventually, regardless of the fact that he was still one of their own. They said his problems that he had brought with him from France were too blanant in rehearsals - an excuse hiding behind the one time Sebastian had called James out on being flat (a statement that was entirely true and needed to be said).

Blaine never faltered. He all but stuck his fingers in his ears at the sound of the rumours, resolutely waiting for Sebastian to confide in him when he was ready, rather than jump to pointless and potentially harmful conclusions. He knew that Sebastian needed a friend, and more than that, he liked being Sebastian's friend. Even if the entire world seemed to want to tell him just how wrong he was about that friend.

* * *

Blaine did not like being woken from a deep sleep, by anything. He had all too many memories of being jolted awake by Cooper at three in the morning, just so he could tell him about the new accent he'd perfected. After a while, Blaine had concluded that he'd done it purely to irritate him.

Yet, that night, he couldn't ignore the drumming on the door of his dorm room, persistent and banging into his dreams. His roommate had gone home for the weekend, so he had no qualms about growling somewhat viciously under his breath as he stumbled towards the door, fully prepared to slam it right back in their face once he'd got them to agree to stop knocking.

"Hey, B," Sebastian purred, leaning against the doorframe with an easy grin. "Well you gonna lemme in or not?" he slurred, tumbling forward towards him.  
Drunken Sebastian was not something Blaine had yet had to deal with, although he knew that it was a semi-regular occurrence. He had offered to accompany him out sometime but Sebastian had just shrugged, and said he only went out when Blaine had other plans anyway. He hadn't needed to say it for the implication to be clear - when he had other plans with Kurt.

Blaine tugged Sebastian's tall but admittedly quite light frame into the room, shutting the door quietly behind them.  
"I wanna tell you. I wanna tell you right now because you need to know before you believe all the mean people and then don't want to be my friend," Sebastian stated urgently.  
"No," Blaine replied simply, helping him out of his jacket and shoes. "I want you tell me when you are sober so that I can be sure you really are ready. And I don't care what anyone else says, because I care about _you_."

Sebastian paused, looking down at him in awe. "You're so nice to me," he mumbled, before his face split into a wide grin. "You took off my shoes! You're going to have to carry me to my room! I'm not putting them back on!"  
Blaine rolled his eyes, pulling him towards his bed and dumping him down into it. He climbed in next to him and wrapped his arms tightly around his waist. "You're staying here to prevent any possible injuries. And no, you don't have a choice."

Sebastian huffed, but seemed content to accept it, wriggling his cold toes next to Blaine's. He seemed somewhat uncomfortable, laying poker straight in Blaine's embrace, but a moment or two later, he relaxed. He let his shoulders drop, before wrapping his long limbs around Blaine's smaller frame, doing a remarkably good impression of a limpet.

"Well, at least this way, if you fall out, you'll take me with you," Blaine commented wryly, tucking his head next to Sebastian's shoulder.  
Sebastian giggled, hiccoughing before continuing. "B? Hey, hey, B? Is this..cuddling?"  
Blaine snorted, letting out a fond sigh. "Sort of. It's difficult to cuddle properly in such a small bed."

Sebastian hummed in acknowledgement, his breath slowly starting to even out. "You know," he murmured sleepily, yawning widely before settling down again. "Whatever it is, I think I kind of like it."  
Blaine smiled, closing his eyes and burying in closer to his friend. "Me too, Bas. Me too."

* * *

When Blaine walked into Sebastian's room that afternoon, it was to find his friend curled up in the corner of the bed, knees tucked up to his chest.  
"What happened?" He was out of breath from running through the corridors, having heard from Thad that there had been an 'incident'. He tugged at the already messy knot of his tie, undoing it and letting it hang loosely around his neck.

"Didn't you hear? I assaulted an innocent sophomore," Sebastian spat, not turning from his position.  
Blaine sighed, shrugging off his blazer before walking over to sit on the edge of his bed. "I didn't ask what people are saying. I asked what happened."

Sebastian paused before rolling over to lay on his back, looking up at Blaine. "I didn't mean to," he whispered, his mouth turned down at the corners. "I didn't want to hit him, he just kept saying things and he wouldn't stop and I just needed him to shut up."  
Blaine hummed, curling his legs up under himself as he waited for Sebastian to shift to sitting upright against the headboard. He knew the sophomore in question, and it wouldn't surprise him if he'd completely deserved a whack across the head.

"What was he saying? You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."  
Sebastian shook his head, toying with the cuff of his shirt, before putting on a perfect impersonation of the brat of a sophomore he'd encountered earlier that day. _"How did you pay for all those drugs, huh, Sebastian? Not with daddy's credit card, hm? Maybe..oh, I know! You let the dealers fuck you, didn't you? That's how you paid off your debts. By being their whore."_

Blaine blinked a few times, wetting his lips. "What a little shit."  
Sebastian actually smiled a little at that, before going back to his pensive staring. "I never did drugs, Blaine. Not once. That summer when I first saw you, the boys I was with - do you remember? - they were the only real friends I've ever had apart from you. But they were older, they'd just graduated then, and left Paris for college in the fall. This other group, they heard that I had an empty house a lot of the time - my father works out of town pretty much constantly. They said if they could use my house for their parties, they'd let me be part of their group. And I said yes because I didn't want to be alone. But I never took the drugs. I sat in the corner of the living room and smoked normal cigarettes and told them that they had all kinds of shit in them, just so they'd leave me be. I watched a girl convulsing on the floor while her friends were all too high to even care. She was- she was fine, it was okay. They pumped her stomach and her parents sent her to a clinic in Switzerland or something. But it was terrifying."

Sebastian looked up, taking a breath and slipping his hand into where Blaine's lay waiting, before continuing with his story. "Which is how I ended up here. My dad came home early and found everyone passed out surrounded by every illegal drug available in the country and flipped a shit. I think maybe he did believe me when I said I'd never taken any though, because otherwise, why not send me to rehab instead of some preppy private school - no offence. I think maybe he just didn't know what to do with me anymore. I don't think he ever did really, after mama died."

"I was five when she passed, but she'd been ill since I was a toddler. She used to say I should be thankful, that it didn't affect her mind, so she'd always know who I was when I came to visit her in hospital. It didn't seem like there was much to be thankful about, though. My father kept saying she would get better, that it was just a rough stage. The day he took me to say goodbye, he told me that it was just goodbye for a short while, not forever. That she was going to go away to get better and then she'd come back and be my mama again. Of course, she didn't. Ever since then, I don't say goodbyes. Because once you say goodbye, they don't come back."

"Is that why- on the roof?" Blaine asked quietly, squeezing his hand gently.  
Sebastian nodded, looking down at where their palms lay pressed together. "I have so much to thank you for, Blaine. Not just since I got to Dalton, but ever since we met. It's true that I did- I used to sleep around a lot. It's such a dumb cliche, but I just wanted to feel like someone cared. And then you came along, and you cared, and you cared while still making it very clear you weren't going to have sex with me." He smiled ruefully, darting Blaine a glance. "Although, having said that, it is still a shame."

Blaine huffed, nudging Sebastian's leg playfully with his own.  
"I haven't slept with anyone since before I met you," Sebastian admitted in a rush, his cheeks a little pink. _Because they weren't you,_ he wanted to say. "Because they didn't care, and you taught me to wait for someone who does."

The next moment, he had an armful of Blaine, as his friend hugged him tightly. "I'm so proud of you, Bas," he murmured, his eyes a little damp. "And I promise not to break the trust you've put in me."  
Sebastian let out a breath, holding him close. "I know you would never do that."

* * *

Blaine left Sebastian's room a little while later, tie still hanging loose, blazer thrown over his arm. He'd just made it back to his own dorm when his phone rang in his pocket. _Kurt._

_"How long have you been cheating on me with Sebastian?"  
_"Well, hello to you too, Kurt, I've had a pretty tiring day actually, what about you?"  
_"Blaine, I'm serious."  
_"What happened to the trust in this relationship?"

Kurt scoffed down the line; Blaine could tell from the dry tone of his voice that he'd been crying.  
_"Please, this isn't about trust, this is about fact! You're always with him, and if you're not with him then you're talking about him and- and Trent just called me and said he saw you leaving Sebastian's room looking dishevelled!"_

"Yes, because- What's the point? You've clearly already made up your mind. You won't believe anything I say unless it's to agree with you."  
_"So, you are cheating on me."  
_"No, I'm not."  
_"I hope you and Sebastian are very happy together."  
_And the line went dead.

The only way Blaine could even be sure they were, in fact, broken up, was by the little notification that popped up on Facebook to tell him that Kurt had removed him from his relationship status. He stared at the highlighted yellow box for a while, wondering why on earth it was that instead of feeling upset, or hurt, or even angry, he just felt relieved.


	3. I Love You

**A/N:** This part set at the start of season 4.

* * *

It took Blaine until the start of his senior year to admit to himself that he may just have had a crush on Sebastian Smythe. Possibly. Just a tiny little one. Insignificant, really. Definitely not one worth telling of, to anyone - least of all to Sebastian. With that in mind, Blaine continued to do what every seventeen year old boy with a crush on their best friend would do: he daydreamed, _constantly._

It had gotten to a stage where there were two Sebastian's in Blaine's life. First, the real, flesh and blood Sebastian, Blaine's best friend, whom he had breakfast, lunch and dinner with daily, who whispered snarky comments into his ear during Warbler rehearsals and helped him with his French homework. The other, was Blaine's fantasy Sebastian: the boy who snuck him kisses between classes, turned up at his dorm room door after curfew for a late night make out session, who brought him flowers with an embarrassed half smile and always, without fail, complimented his outfit choices on weekends.

The problem being, of course, that the further into his fantasies Blaine got, the more trouble he had remembering that he couldn't just throw his arms around real Sebastian, or drag him into a dark corner, without arising a series of problematic questions.

For a while, Blaine had toyed with the idea of trying to distance himself from the other boy. Maybe, he thought to himself time and time again, maybe if we weren't such close friends it would be easier for me to stop thinking of him like that.

But regardless of the fact that in the months since the incident with the freshman, Sebastian had settled back into the Dalton social circles again, Blaine couldn't shake the feeling that he still needed him. If he was being honest with himself, he needed Sebastian just as much. At the end of the day, he'd rather have him as just a friend than nothing at all.

They made an odd pair, in some ways - although others said that it was their differences that made them as close as they were. Sebastian had gone from being a subject of interest and gossip, to being largely feared. However, with that fear, came admiration; to the extent that he had most of the school in the palm of his hand. But then so did Blaine, just for different reasons. He was a role model to the younger students: lead soloist for the Warblers, within the top ten of students in his year, sliding gracefully into the position of head boy as he became a senior (as if anyone had ever doubted that he would).

So, Sebastian and Blaine may both have been powerful, but they held that power in significantly different ways. Blaine often wondered out loud whether Sebastian would rather be feared or adored, and he always answered with the former, without fail.  
"If they loved me, I'd have to try that much harder," Sebastian mused, idly running his fingers through the grass they were laid out on, under the fall sun. "I'd constantly be seeking their approval, you know?"  
Blaine did know, because he did that every day of his life - whether consciously or not.

"It would be far easier to fall from their affections, than it would from their fears," Sebastian finished, his voice quiet. Because if there was something the boys did have in common, it was their need to be noticed.  
"Maybe I should try it your way, then. Find some way to make them fear me," Blaine chuckled, rolling over onto his stomach and propping his chin up in his hands to grin at Sebastian.  
Sebastian snorted, kicking his ankle gently. "Now that I'd love to see. It would be like one of those little puppies that barks and jumps to try and be ferocious, but simply ends up looking cuter."

Blaine opened his mouth to snap a reply, before pausing, tilting his head as he smiled at Sebastian sweetly. "Are you saying I'm cute?"  
"Oh, you're goddamn adorable," Sebastian winked, before settling back and closing his eyes.

* * *

"Blaine Devon Anderson, put down that pen."  
Blaine jumped, tossing it down and putting up his hands in surrender, still unclear as to where the voice was coming from, and to whom it belonged. "I'll come quietly."  
Jeff snorted, appearing around the library stacks with Nick in tow. "Yeah, right, remember I shared a dorm with you in sophomore year."

Blaine hissed, kicking him sharply as they sat down at his table, slowly lowering his hands. "Aside from a verbal sparring match, did you need something? I have to get this paper finished so I can-"  
"Get back to Sebastian?" Nick asked, smiling innocently.  
"I was going to say call my mom, but I guess I'll probably go see Bas after that, yeah," Blaine frowned. "What's going on?"

The boys leaned across the table as one, rested their palms flat against the wood. "You tell us, Blaine. What's going on?" Jeff grinned.  
Blaine narrowed his eyes, folding his arms across his chest. "If you two are trying to get me to go through an initiation ceremony for one of your damn secret clubs again, you can forget it. I still have scars on my ass from the last one."

"Cut the crap, Anderson!" Nick yelled, slamming his fist down on the table with force. A chorus of shushes came from around them, until he sat back, cheeks flushed as he quietly apologised to the other students sitting nearby.  
"You need to stop letting him watch so many crime shows," Blaine said pointedly to Jeff, who just shrugged, before bumping Nick's shoulder affectionately.

"No, but, seriously, Blaine. How long have you been in love with Seb?" Nick tried again, his tone more gentle.  
Blaine's cheeks turned a violent shade of red, hands balling into fists. "Me? In love with, with Sebastian? Oh, come on!"  
Nick sighed, turning to his best friend. "Jeff, present the evidence please."

Jeff cleared his throat, holding out his hand as he began to count things off on his fingers. "You make extreme heart eyes every time he sings. You always offer him half of your dessert after he's finished his own, even though everyone knows that's your favourite part of the meal that you never share with anyone. You start giggling like a ten year old girl when he so much as opens his mouth-"  
"That joke about cactuses didn't even make any sense," Nick butted in, frowning in confusion, before shrinking back at Jeff's hard stare.

"You go to every single one of his lacrosse games even though you don't understand how it's played," Jeff continued, as if he hadn't been interrupted at all. "And don't even get me started on the looks I see you giving him in the showers after gym class."

"I think you're over-analysing things," Blaine mumbled, not quite meeting their gaze.  
"Fine," Nick sighed. "I suppose you won't care that Hunter's been asking around about him, then."  
Blaine's head snapped up, eyes narrowed. "What? The new Warbler, Hunter? What's he been asking?"  
"Whether he's single," Nick shrugged. "Whether he's good in bed. That kind of thing."

Blaine growled, a distinctive cracking sound coming from the pen he'd just picked up again.  
"But, Sebastian's just your friend, so I guess you don't really care who he dates. Or sleeps with," Nick finished; the pair standing up to make their exit. "See you around, Blainers."

As the two walked away, Jeff ducked down to whisper to Nick. "Has Hunter really been asking about Sebastian?"  
Nick snorted, shaking his head. "Oh my god, no. I met his girlfriend last week. But I think we got to him," he grinned, glancing back at where Blaine was glaring pensively at the table before him.  
"Poor table," Jeff sighed, shaking his head. "Whatever did he do to deserve that."

* * *

Blaine jolted awake, his body still aching from the memory of the hands that had touched him in his dream. It was fuzzy around the edges, but it had been one of those that felt so unbelievably real, that much he knew, just from how his body was thrumming and overheated. His sleep pants were uncomfortably tight and shifting slightly where he lay on his stomach in his bed meant that his hard cock ended up rubbing against the mattress, sending a shudder right down to his toes.

He had two options: he could just try and go back to sleep, or he could deal with his obvious problem. But in that still half asleep daze, where logical thought and reasoning hadn't quite kicked in yet, he came up with a third, much more appealing option. He could go and see Sebastian.

He stumbled to his feet, noting through half lidded eyes that his roommate was gone. Strange. He could have sworn he'd seen Nathan in the opposite bed, had said goodnight to him even, before going to sleep. But he couldn't concentrate on that right then, too focused on _Sebastian, Sebastian, Sebastian._ It was the four syllable beat thrumming through his veins, pushing him through the corridors to his friend's room.

Blaine noted briefly that Sebastian's roommate, too, was not there, before he was crashing towards the bed, shaking the taller boy awake.  
"Blaine? Whassgoingon?" he slurred, raising his head sluggishly.  
"I'm sorry, Bas, I know it's late, but I need you, I need you right now," Blaine practically sobbed, pushing the covers aside and pressing his body down against Sebastian's.

Sebastian wrapped his arms around him tightly, shushing him gently. "S'okay, B. I've got you. I've got you." He spread his legs, curving them around Blaine's thighs to pull him down hard against him. "Right there, B, come on. I'm right here with you."  
Blaine whimpered, shaking as he ground down against where Sebastian's own cock was straining against his sweatpants. Even through the material, it felt incredible, every single inch of his body tuned into the boy below him, reacting to every brush of his fingers over his back, his toes against his legs.

Blaine tucked his head into the crook of Sebastian's neck, burying his groans against the smooth skin that smelt so wonderfully familiar. Like the sweater Sebastian had lent him last Christmas that he'd never quite gotten round to giving back, and that he often accidentally-on-purpose fell asleep in.

"Come on, B. I want you to. I need you to," Sebastian whispered roughly, clutching him almost desperately.  
Blaine wailed, hips stuttering erratically as he chased after his release, shaking as he came hard into his sleep pants.

Blaine sat up, panting and sweating, his heart rate racing wildly out of control.  
"Blaine? You alright?" Nathan called from across the room, voice thick with sleep, as he raised his head vaguely.  
"Fine, sorry for waking you. Just go back to sleep," he called out quietly, his mouth dry.  
Nathan nodded, flopping back down. The sound of his light snores started up again within moments.

Blaine let out a breath, sinking back down against his own bed, wincing in disgust at how his sleep pants were sticking uncomfortably to his skin. It wasn't the first dream of that nature that he'd had about Sebastian - but it was certainly the only one that felt that impossibly real. Impossible being the key word.

* * *

Blaine climbed the last step up to the rooftop, hopping onto the ledge and dropping back down over the other side. It was close to being dark, the bright lights on the gate posts to the school casting an eery glow up to that height. As he crossed the flat rooftop, he watched Sebastian's seated silhouette shift slightly, to pick up the bottle sitting next to him, setting it back down a moment later.

"I thought I might find you here," Blaine said gently, careful not to startle the other boy. True, there was an awning still below, it wasn't just a sheer drop to the ground, but all the same.  
"There's no hiding from you, B," Sebastian chuckled, patting the spot on the wall next to him.  
"Where did you get that?" Blaine asked as he settled down, nodding towards the half empty bottle of scotch.

Sebastian shrugged, dragging his finger around the rim absentmindedly. "Lifted it from the dean's office while he was busy with my father."  
_Ah._ "I didn't know he was coming to visit," Blaine murmured, watching Sebastian's expression carefully.  
"Neither did I," Sebastian replied bitterly, taking another swig from the bottle before offering it to Blaine.  
He wasn't a big drinker, but he accepted it all the same; in companionship, but also vaguely in the hopes that it might stop him dwelling on his dream from the night before, as he had been doing all day.

"He was checking up on me, I guess," Sebastian started quietly, drumming his fingers off the edge of the roof, his gaze cast somewhere out across where the grounds of Dalton stretched before them. "The dean told him how well I was doing. Just made the Warbler council, captain of the lacrosse team, commendable grades. All of that. But, of course, my father asks what 'commendable' actually means, and _why aren't they A's, Sebastian, they should all be A's!_ The dean tried to move on, decided to mention that it seemed I was close with the head boy," he turned to Blaine with a wide smile, but it soon drooped. "And my father just laughs, and says _oh, hand down the head boy's pants, that I can believe._ Like he can't even consider the possibility that someone might want to hang around me for anything other than sex."

Blaine stiffened, a twinge of guilt nagging at him. Of course, he loved spending time with Sebastian for a variety of reasons - but that didn't mean he would say no to his hand being anywhere near his pants. Which was exactly what Sebastian didn't need or, seemingly, want, from him.  
"Well, your father is wrong," Blaine replied firmly, squeezing Sebastian's hand gently as he went for the bottle again.

They shared the bottle, back and forth, for a little while. Sebastian barely even winced as the liquid slid down his throat; for Blaine, it took a little longer to get used to it, but soon he was buzzing warmly enough not to notice so much. Sebastian sighed deeply, setting the bottle down before turning to look at Blaine. He leaned forward, resting his forehead against the shorter boy's, noses just bumping together lightly.  
"Why do you always care so much about little old me?" Sebastian asked quietly, his voice teasing and light.

Blaine's breath hitched, his lips tingling from the warm air being let out onto them. Sebastian was close enough that he could smell that same cologne that he'd never quite forgotten; close enough to taste, in fact. It wouldn't take much, just to press forward and connect their lips. But he couldn't. He couldn't do that to Sebastian, least of all on a night such as that.

But the line was visibly blurring in front of him. Sebastian's proximity to him, combined with the alcohol thrumming through his veins was making the divide between real Sebastian and fantasy Sebastian almost indecipherable. At least, that is what Blaine would blame for what he said next.

"Because I love you," Blaine replied honestly, as if it were the most obvious and simple answer in the world. "And besides," he continued, as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened at all, tilting his head forward to look out as he hooked his ankle around Sebastian's, holding their different length legs out for a moment. "You're really not that little."

Sebastian blinked a few times, drawing back to look at Blaine carefully. "What?"  
"Well, you're taller than me, so you can't really call yourself little," Blaine frowned, utterly confused as to why that required an explanation.  
"No," Sebastian mumbled in disbelief. "Not that bit. The other bit, the bit where you said that.. You love me?"

And that was when Blaine realised his mistake. Because the boy sitting in front of him wasn't his fantasy, that could be toyed with and fitted to his liking. He was real, he was a person, and he had to be treated as such.  
"I'm so sorry, I didn't-" Blaine's mouth went dry, and he shook his head rapidly as he stood up, stumbling towards the door for the stairwell.

"Wait, wait, B, please," Sebastian cried, taking off after him and grabbing his arm tightly as they stood on the middle of the roof.  
"I shouldn't have said that, Bas, just let me go and we'll forget this ever happened," Blaine pleaded, not quite daring to look him in the eye.  
"Blaine, stop," Sebastian commanded, yet his tone was as gentle as his hands as they came to tilt Blaine's head up. "You didn't even give me a chance to reply."

Blaine paused, heart hammering in his chest. _This is real. Remember this. This is real.  
_"Blaine," Sebastian started, taking a shaky breath. "I cannot put into words how I feel about you. But I guess, I love you too might be a good place to start."  
He didn't respond, couldn't respond, save for dragging Sebastian's neck down to kiss him desperately. Two years of unexplainable want and need for each other had built up to that kiss, because they had finally found each other again, in the way that they needed to.

Sebastian laughed softly as they broke apart, wrapping his arms tightly around Blaine's compact frame. "You did mean it, right? You weren't just saying you loved me as a friend?" he half-joked.  
"Oh, shut up, you idiot," Blaine grumbled, shutting him up with another kiss. And another. And another.

* * *

"Bastian."  
One kiss pressed to the corner of his lips.  
"Bas."  
Another.  
"Sebastian!"  
A third, this time square against his mouth, lingering for just a moment.  
"They're going to be here any minute," Blaine complained weakly, batting at the warm, strong body that was spread out across his on the tiny Dalton bed.

It had been nearly three weeks since the kiss on the rooftop, and they were proud of how long they'd managed to keep it a secret from their friends. They'd just wanted time to process, to get to know each other as boyfriends, before it became public news up for discussion, as it undoubtedly would become. What they didn't realise was that most of their friends had already guessed, and were in fact taking bets on who would be the first to walk in on them at an inopportune moment.

"Don't care," Sebastian grinned, pressing the pads of his fingertips firmly against Blaine's bare waist, where his shirt had been rucked up. His mouth went back to attempting its important exploration of Blaine's, licking at his lower lip until the shorter boy gave in with a groan.  
Blaine's hips rocked up almost of their own accord, even their lazy kisses making heat coil low in his body.  
Sebastian chuckled against his lips, meeting him hip to hip, carefully rolling them over. Arms and legs wrapped firmly around his boyfriend, he held him close, brushing a kiss to his jaw. "S'okay, B. I've got you."

Blaine started, pulling away sharply to look at him. He shook his head a few times, but the déjà vu moment, heralding back to his dream, only served to have his cock pulsing more insistently in his pants.  
"What's wrong?" Sebastian pouted, rubbing over his back in wide circles. "Did you hear them? Can't we just tell them to fuck off? I wanna study _you_."  
"Nothing, just..a dream I had, a while ago," Blaine flushed, pressing back down in the hopes that the matter would be dropped.

Sebastian hummed in obvious curiosity. "A dream, huh? About me? Was it a dirty one? Oh, it was totally a dirty one! Tell me!"  
"Nope, shut up," Blaine smiled innocently, pressing his lips firmly to Sebastian's.  
"It was diiiiiiiiiiirty," Sebastian mumbled triumphantly, one hand snaking down to cup Blaine's ass through his pants.

The door swung open, the two boys looking up in surprise - which was more than could be said for Nick and Jeff's expressions.  
"We'll come back later then," Nick sighed with a roll of his eyes, although there was a hint of a smile on the corner of his lips.  
Jeff was just grinning, rocking on his heels. "I knew it!" he cackled, sending the pair an over exaggerated wink. Well, Sebastian's hand was still on Blaine's ass, after all.

"So, if you can not tell everyone straight away, and let us do it, that would be awesome," Blaine tried hopefully, finally thinking to bat Sebastian's hand away.  
Nick and Jeff glanced at one another, before shaking their heads. "Nope, we're telling everyone. Sorry, B," Nick shrugged, clearly not very sorry at all.

Sebastian pushed himself up onto his elbows to look at Nick and Jeff with a wide grin. "Hey, guys? Did Blaine tell you two about the dirty dream he had about me?"


End file.
